Cast

Plot

Dr Nasty’s Cavalcade of Horror:– Channel 13 is screening a late night horror double feature as part of the Dr Nasty’s Cavalcade of Horror show. Samantha, who plays the assistant Nurse Nasty, is fed up with John Pushing, the frequently drunken actor who plays the show’s host Dr Nasty. She reaches snapping point after John whips her on air, only for her boyfriend, the director Shawn, to side with John. Dinner for Monsters:– A chef who owns a failing restaurant is hired to prepare dinner by an eccentric couple only to find when he gets there that he is expected to cook a dead human body. Slit:– Brad provides a unique fetish for paying customers where he will cut and gouge their skin for pleasure. When he receives an unexpected call from Brii, he meets a disturbed person who proceeds to turn the tables on him.

Grindhouse (2007) created a renewed interest in the anthology film. In its aftermath, we have seen a number of these latch onto the horror genre with the likes of Chillerama (2011), The ABCs of Death (2012) and sequels, V/H/S (2012) and sequels, Holidays (2016) and XX (2017), among others. Late Night Double Feature most approximates Chillerama with its quartet of short films that are made as parody pastiches of various horror movies. The difference here is that the main stories are played straight for the most part and are not setting out to parody any particular genre style. The parody aspect is more evident in the mocked-up trailers in between the longer episodes, another feature that the film also borrows from Grindhouse.

The two longer stories are the better ones. Dinner for Monsters works with an intriguing hook – a chef is hired by strange clients with the expectation that he cook a human body as a banquet for them and their guests. This is an episode that feels like it could well have worked with a longer runtime but works effectively at the length it does.

Slit is the best episode of the show. It concerns a fetish that may or may not exist in real life – someone who is paid to cut people for their erotic enjoyment. The story treats this with a fascinating realism as we watch Colin Price going about his business, before a clearly deranged Caleigh Le Grand turns the tables on him. This is another story that feels like it could have a longer runtime.

The wraparound Dr Nasty’s Cavalcade of Horrors concerns the horror host who introduces the various films we see. The focus is more on his hard-done by assistant Jamie Elizabeth Sampson who is variously whipped on air by the drunken actor and then has her boyfriend, the director, fail to stand up for her before discovering that he has taken all the work she has done for his feature film and replaced her with another younger actress. The episode ends with an amusingly bloody revenge ending.

There are also three in-between episodes – Night Clown, a trailer for a killer clown film; Killer Mortgage Rates, a mock ad for an insurance company in which we see the company employing murderous methods; and another trailer for a film called Encephalopithecus about a couple encountering a caveman creature. Despite odd moments like Slit, Late Night Double Feature emerges as an earnest wannabe in the anthology stakes, one where a not-quite budget and wavering directorial styles gets in the way of it emerging as a complete triumph.